T-Mobile customers looking for another 4G handset option can now pick up the all new Samsung Galaxy S 4G. In order to be clear, the Samsung Galaxy S 4G is really just a rehash of the original Samsung Vibrant loaded up with Inception and equipped with a new radio chip which allows you to jump on T-Mobile’s 4G HSPA+ network. While the Galaxy S 4G isn’t the first 4G phone on T-Mobile’s network, it is the first handset capable of reaching download speeds of up to 21 mbps while the myTouch 4G and T-Mobile G2 both max out at 14.4 mbps. That may not make a huge difference right now, but anyone who picks up the Galaxy S 4G should see some significant speeds increases once T-Mobile doubles their HSPA+ network speeds from 21 mbps to 42 mbps later this year.

The Samsung Galaxy S 4G is being sold for $199.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and two year contract discount. T-Mobile customers on Even More Plus plans will need to pony up $499.99. It may not be much of a refresh, but the Samsung Galaxy S 4G may be the first phone from T-Mobile that will be able to compete with the LTE speeds Verizon is about to unleash with the HTC Thunderbolt.

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If you ask me it looks like tmobile is truly about to have a very LARGE SUMMER OF 2011.. Not only does the Mytouch 4G exist as well as the Htc G2 they also have the flagship device for google the Samsung Nexus S and they are also preparing for the upcoming Htc Pyramid as well as the fact that they too will recieve the BEST DEVICE ON THE MARKET The Samsung Galaxy S2 and possibly the Lg optimus 2x I wonder where these guys came from. They have BLIND SIDED EVERYONE. There is no secret that everyone knows that I am a sprint/Htc Evo 4g JUNKIE to the heart I can’t believe my eyes the 4th carrier is BITCH SLAPPING ALL OF US. Sprint BETTER MAKE SURE THEY STEP THERE GAME UP SOMETHING SERIOUS. It’s Htc Evo 2 4g OR BUST and this new Evo 2 better MATCH the Galaxy S2 spec by spec and add some surprises

I’ve stated this before, but I simply don’t understand the hate for Samsung. The fact that Froyo has been available for the international Galaxy S for months goes to show that Samsung isn’t entirely at fault for the delayed update. U.S. carriers have a lot of control over what updates get released and since the Galaxy S is not exclusive to any carrier in the US. They have very little incentive to push out the update.

I’d have to agree. The carriers are the largest factor in determining updates, when it comes to carrier specific phones. It seems as if many people miss the larger picture here, which is that the U.S. major mobile phone carriers use their networks to dominate beyond just mere access. The big four, for the most part, control the public’s choice of phone hardware and software as well. I can’t imagine people tolerating this practice with their laptops and desktops (Apple maintains a fairly long reach on some aspects of their computers, but even they don’t have much influence on what ISP their consumers choose). The phone manufacturers have been, to differing degrees, complicit in this strategy of restricting consumer choices (here’s looking at you Motorola), but the carriers control far more aspects of these devices than I believe consumers should consent to.

Despite the negative comments flying around about Samsung, they do two things that I greatly appreciate. 1) They put out some the best hardware on the market. 2) They have (so far) produced a variant of their top model line for each of the carriers that mostly have the same hardware specifications. If I decide that I must have the Motorola Atrix 4G, then I must switch to AT&T to get it (Taylor, I think you’re being tempted by the Dark Side, personally, but good luck to you, though). I despise AT&T, both for their business tactics and their horrible network performance. At least with Sammy, there will be an option for their hardware on the network of my choosing.

As for this Galaxy S 4G version, however, I’m disappointed in more ways than one. I think T-Mobile could have made a smarter choice by getting in on the early ‘select markets’ for the Galaxy S2, rather than wait for Q2 when the big 4 carriers will all likely offer their own variant of it. There’s a market yearning for the dual-core phones and T-Mobile should go after it aggressively. T-Mo seems likely to get the LG Optimus 2X in the near future, but why offer one dual-core when you could offer a choice between two?

Dont waste your upgrade! Is this phone really that much different from the Vibran? NO! It is the Vibrant…minus the 16gb hard drive (thats righ, the new Galaxy S 4G comes with a 16gb micro sd but does not have tyre hard drive space that came on the Vibran!) A front facing camera is worthless without a reliable app for video chats (Qik has 3 stars in the mkt). My 3G Vibrant is plenty fast uploading & downloading. My next phone will be running at least gingerbread with a dual-core processor! The Galaxy S 4G has a slightly upgraded battery, maybe 20 minutes greater ryan the Vibrant’s. Dont be fooled by the new metalic looking battery door, its still the sameold flimsy plastic!

CHICAGO – 4G World – Everyone knows that AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is planning to move to Long Term Evolution (LTE) later this year, but is the operator also planning a further upgrade of its 3G network in 2011.

In his keynote here, David Haight, VP of business development at AT&T’s Emerging Devices Organization, said that if users roam off LTE, they would go to faster 3G in 2011. “The good news is that you’re going to fall back to HSPA+, so you’re falling back to 14.4 megabits, not 7.2 or 3.6,” Haight told the crowd. (See 4G World: AT&T Learns Lessons From iPad.)

So far, AT&T has only said that it will deploy the earlier 14.4Mbit/s upgrade by the end of 2010, revealing nothing about a 21Mbit/s upgrade in 2011. So we asked AT&T what the official word on this was.

“HSPA+ technology has a theoretical maximum speed of 21Mbps,” a spokeswoman said, in an email reply to questions. “WE HAVE NOT BEGUN DEPLOYING THE TECHNOLOGY AT THIS TIME”,she said that ONLY last October — then now magically they are 4G (See AT&T Plots Widescale HSPA+ Rollout .)

Nonetheless, if AT&T is interested in keeping up with GSM rival T-Mobile then HSPA+ is a logical progression. T-Mobile is currently rolling out a 21Mbit/s upgrade for over 100 cities now; it currently has the speed boost running in 100+ cities in the US. They proud of announcing every city that they lit up for 21 hspa+ but AT&T cannot do that because they are just putting 7.2 & 14.4…

The average download speeds offered on 21Mbit/s HSPA+ are in the 5 to 8 Mbit/s range, but we seen Max. of 12.5Mbps in Samsung Galaxy S 4G in some city with 3Mbps upload. (See T-Mobile’s HSPA+ Rivals Clearwire, US LTE Speeds.)

When we are in Austin,Texas for ANDROID FESTIVAL, TMobile executives said that 42Mbps hspa+ will be available by last week of MARCH or 1st week of APRIL — 2011 then AT&T will start to deploy 21Mbps hspa+ that time… LATE IN THE GAME!!!

I called a friend who is engineer in AT&T MOBILITY DEPT. (15 years) & he said to me that THEY STILL USE THE 7.2Mbps & SOME city with 14.4Mbps HSPA, NOT YET THE 21 HSPA+ (maybe they will start last week of February or 1st week of March, he said in SOME CITIES NOT 100+ LIKE TMOBILE) So the hspa that AT&T saying that will cover more is the 7.2 & 14.4 NOT THE 21 HSPA+…

SPRINT has WIMAX & VERIZON has LTE then TMOBILE has 21hspa+ then 42hspa+ this April, how about AT&T — 7.2 then 14.4 selected cities — the slowest… & FAKE 4G…

So they chose to dump lots of money into a movie that didn’t even win an academy award, yet they choose not to spend probably less than half of that on a little LED next to the camera lens? Seriously, I’ll put up with the reboot bug on a nexus S simply because of that LED. I’m not trying to sound all bawwwy over this, its just taking pictures is the #1 thing I do on my phone so its really important to me.